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encouragingly to the future. He says, "It is with considerable pleasure that we announce, that there is a decided current of improvement in the social condition of the colony," And further, "We have always repeated our warnings to intending emigrants, of the difficulties which would meet them on their entrance into the colony; but it is creditable to the colonists to state, that their benevolent efforts to meet these evils are very successful, and prove that the too general thirst for gold has not entirely shut up the fountains of human sympathy. The prospect before eligible women, in a department which (we state it with all reverence) we believe sometimes to occupy their thoughts, may be inferred from the simple fact that in this, the richest colony in the world, the males outnumber the females to the enormous extent of about 57,000."
In a previous number of The Argus, under date of 30th March last, the editor points out in forcible language, what appears to him a serious evil in all the Australian colonies, which is the disposition manifested by emigrants to remain in their towns, instead of settling as agriculturists in the country. From some private letters which I have seen, I should say that large numbers of persons, altogether unsuited to the new life they have to encounter, have emigrated in the hope of speedily becoming rich; in which hope many have been miserably disappointed; many men of education and refinement (one nobleman was named) being now found working on the roads, ad common labourers."
Drunkenness is doing its fearful work in these distant lands. From all that I can learn on the subject, it is the monster evil which their inhabitants have to contend against. The following appalling account of its extent at Sydney, demands the serious attention of all their best minds; and we, also, should take a deep interest in this matter. The Times correspondent, dating Sydney, 26th July, 1853, thus writes:—
"The largest contribution to the Customs' revenue has been from the importation of spirits; the duties produced £43,177, or £11,858 more than in the second quarter of 1852. At the same time, the excise returns shew that the quantity of ardent spirits distilled in the colony has been more than doubled; 16,732 gallons paid duty in June quarter of 1852; in the present quarter, duty has been paid on 34,443 gallons.
"The continued increase in the revenue is, no doubt, and advantage; but that so large a proportion of it should arise from the import and production of ardent spirits is, in many respects, an enormous evil. The consequences of it are but too evident—'they reel the streets at noon.' It may be doubted if there is a city in the world more infected with the curse of intemperance, than Sydney at the present moment. In the working classes, the old taint or original sin of the colony, inherited from the convict days, when rum was the currency, has never been quite cast out; but the cvil has considerably increased since the discovery of gold and the high wages produced by it There are nearly 400 public houses in the city; and
